Betty Rosado
Artist Statement
It started out as a simple idea: to shoot images of some of South Florida's established and emerging artists, folks who also happened to be friends of mine. I met them over the past few years while living and working in an electric, gentrifying Miami growing more interesting by the day. I made a few phone calls and they all agreed to sit for sessions. But something happened along the way. I realized the project could be about more than just shooting a few friends. It became clear to me that I was recording an evolving society, a city changing right before our eyes. The folks I was shooting all represented this new Miami. But I felt that to do justice to this project, more artists than the ones who were in my speed dial needed to be included.
Everybody knows that South Florida's art scene is booming. The art world watches our every move as we continue to grow into Mecca in our own right. Many of my subjects have been a fundamental part of this movement from the very beginning. Long before there was a Performing Arts Center under construction, or an Art Basel Miami Beach, these artists were making names for themselves and laying the groundwork for the vibrant arts community that we have become. My ideal is to be able to capture each and every one of these outstanding characters - the ones who have been at it for years and the ones who are beginning to make waves now -- because together, they represent a culturally maturing Miami ripe with new possibility. Once I realized that the moment we are living is an important moment in our history, it dawned on me the significance of documenting it all. It is a far larger undertaking than I had originally imagined, but it is my way to credit the people who are lending color and originality to a city on the verge of something big.